Specifically, 125 years ago today, on Oct. 11, 1887, came the most dramatic moment in the history of the iconic mail carriers.

That is the day James Edward “Ed” Hamilton reportedly vanished while swimming in the Hillsboro Inlet near Pompano Beach.

With no railroad or regular ship service, a letter from Miami to Jupiter took six to eight weeks via Key West, Havana and New York. Neither the open ocean nor the hostile interior provided a practical route.

So between 1885 and 1893, rugged pioneers traversed the 136 miles between Palm Beach and Key Biscayne.

They traveled 56 miles in small boats and the remaining 80 on foot, walking in the hard sand at the ocean’s edge.

The grueling trip took three days each way. A road to Miami spelled the end of the service. The carriers are memorialized in the town seal of Hypoluxo, a historical marker at Boca Raton’s Spanish River Park, and a statue of Hamilton near the spot where he died.